Another Look at Joseph Smith's First Vision
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SECTION TITLE Another Look at Joseph Smith’s First Vision Stan Larson The First Vision, that seminal event which has inspired and intrigued all of us for nearly two centuries, came into sharp focus again in 2012 when another volume of the prestigious Joseph Smith Papers was published. Highlighting the volume is the earliest known description of what transpired during the “boy’s frst uttered prayer”1 near his home in Palmyra in 1820. The narrative was written by Joseph Smith with his own pen in a ledger book in 1832. It is printed in the Papers volume under the title “History, Circa Summer 1832” and is especially interesting because the account was suppressed for about three decades. In the following transcription of the 1832 account, Joseph Smith’s words, spelling, and punctuation are retained and the entire block quote of the 1832 account is printed in bold (fol- lowing the lead of the Joseph Smith Papers printing): At about the the age of twelve years my mind become seriously imprest with regard to the all importent con- cerns of for the wellfare of my immortal Soul which led me to searching the scriptures believeing as I was taught, that they contained the word of God thus apply- ing myself to them and my intimate acquaintance with those of differant denominations led me to marvel excedingly for I discovered that <they did not adorn> instead of adorning their profession by a holy walk and Godly conversation agreeable to what I found contained in that sacred depository this was a grief to my Soul thus from the age of twelve years to ffteen I pondered many things in my heart concerning the sittuation of the world 37 38 DIALOGUE: A JOURNAL OF MORMON THOUGHT, 47, no. 2 (Summer 2014) of mankind the contentions and divi[si]ons the wicke[d] ness and abominations and the darkness which pervaded the of the minds of mankind my mind become exced- ingly distressed for I become convicted of my sins and by searching the scriptures I found that mand <mankind> did not come unto the Lord but that they had apostatised from the true and liveing faith and there was no society or denomination that built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the new testament and I felt to mourn for my own sins and for the sins of the world for I learned in the scriptures that God was the same yesterday to day and forever that he was no respecter to persons for he was God for I looked upon the sun the glorious luminary of the earth and also the moon rolling in their magesty through the heavens and also the stars shining in their courses and the earth also upon which I stood and the beast of the feld and the fowls of heaven and the fsh of the waters and also man walking forth upon the face of the earth in magesty and in the strength of beauty whose power and intiligence in governing the things which are so exceding great and marvilous even in the likeness of him who created him <them> and when I considered upon these things my heart exclaimed well hath the wise man said the <it is a> fool <that> saith in his heart there is no God my heart exclaimed all all these bear testimony and bespeak an omnipotent and omnipreasant power a being who makith Laws and decreeeth and bindeth all things in their bounds who flleth Eternity who was and is and will be from all Eternity to Eternity and when <I> considered all these things and that <that> being seeketh such to worshep him as worship him in spirit and in truth therefore I cried unto the Lord for mercy for there was none else to whom I could go and to obtain mercy and the Lord heard my cry in the wilderness and while in <the> attitude of calling upon the Lord <in the 16th year of my age>2 a piller of fre light above the brightness of the sun at noon day come down from above and rested Larson: Another Look at Joseph Smith’s First Vision 39 upon me and I was flled with the spirit of god and the <Lord> opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord and he spake unto me saying Joseph <my son> thy sins are forgiven thee. go thy <way> walk in my statutes and keep my commandments behold I am the Lord of glory I was crucifyed for the world that all those who believe on my name may have Eternal life <behold> the world lieth in sin and at this time and none doeth good no not one they have turned asside from the gospel and keep not <my> commandments they draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and mine anger is kindling against the inhabitants of the earth to visit them acording to thir ungodliness and to bring to pass that which <hath> been spoken by the mouth of the prophets and Ap[o]stles behold and lo I come quickly as it [is] written of me in the cloud <clothed> in the glory of my Father and my soul was flled with love and for many days I could rejoice with great Joy and the Lord was with me but could fnd none that would believe the hevnly vision nevertheless I pondered these things in my heart.3 Immediately of interest to even the casual reader is the fact that Joseph never mentions seeing God the Father in his extraordinary vision. He says he “saw the Lord” and further affrms that this is Jesus Christ, since the personage tells him “I was crucifyed for the world.” While Joseph says he “was flled with the spirit of God,” he does not claim to have seen God as a separate person- age introducing his Son. Additionally, there is no description here of Satan trying to bind him in darkness and prevent the prayer. Joseph makes no reference to his mission of restoration. His sins are forgiven, and the Lord announces that his anger is kindled against a wicked world, but there is no indication that Joseph can expect a prophetic calling. This text of the Prophet’s narration in the Papers volume is prefaced with a carefully detailed “Source Note,” which explains why this excerpt is so unfamiliar to the general members of the Church. The note provides the following information. The 1832 history was written on both sides of the frst three leaves of a 40 DIALOGUE: A JOURNAL OF MORMON THOUGHT, 47, no. 2 (Summer 2014) new ledger book. The fourth leaf began with a new number- ing system and the ledger book became a copybook for Joseph Smith’s outgoing letters, as well as copies of Oliver Cowdery’s 1829 letters. This volume was listed in an inventory made in Nauvoo, came across the plains to Utah, and ended up in the LDS Church archives—with impeccable “continuous institu- tional custody.” However, this six-page history was at some point excised from the letterbook. Fortuitously, one can actually date the time period when these leaves were removed, because the tearing of the last of the three leaves was done with such little care that a small triangular fragment (containing four words of the text) was initially left in the gutter of the letterbook and then removed and taped back onto the last leaf. The clear cellophane tape that was used for this repair was not invented until 1930, which supplies a terminus a quo. Furthermore, “the cut and tear marks, as well as the inscriptions in the gutters of the three excised leaves, match those of the remaining leaf stubs, confrming their original location” in the Joseph Smith letterbook. By 1965 these three leaves of the 1832 account were again “archived together with the letterbook.”4 Thus, the period when these three leaves were separated was approximately 1930 to 1965—or allowing a fve-year period for the cellophane tape to come into common usage in America, the three decades from 1935 to 1965. While the explanatory note adequately traces the physical journey of the three-leaf 1832 history, the four editors of this volume of the Joseph Smith Papers—Karen Lynn Davidson, David J. Whittaker, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen—leave the content of this signifcant 1832 narrative largely unaddressed. They use generic terms in their “Historical Introduction,” pur- posely and carefully referring to it as a “vision of Diety” and a “theophany.”5 This allows them to legitimately refer to a vision of God, a vision of Jesus, or a vision of both the Father and the Son, without drawing attention to the fact that the 1832 account mentions only a vision of Jesus. Later, in the reproduction of the actual text of the 1832 account of the First Vision, at the point where Joseph Smith states: “I saw the Lord,” the editors add a footnote: “JS later recounted that he saw two ‘personages,’ that one appeared after the other, and that ‘they did in reality speak unto Larson: Another Look at Joseph Smith’s First Vision 41 me, or one of them did.’”6 However, what is completely omitted from both the “Source Note” and the “Historical Introduction” is any discussion as to why the three leaves were cut out and who it was that cut this history out of the letterbook. Although the editors of the Histories volume of the Joseph Smith Papers do not discuss why the 1832 history was excised, we can specu- late about who might have removed the leaves, and why.